Tigers Minor League Baseball Blog

The first year player draft just concluded two days ago and some interesting events transpired during that time. For a few weeks now my family and I have been anticipating the draft of my brother Kevan into professional baseball as a pitcher out of Western Michigan. It was unexpected as to what was going to happen on the account of he was a catcher his whole career until this year. However, he’s no ordinary two way player. He developed some valuable experience throughout the season and went to several pre-draft workouts to show his stuff, which I have to say, isn’t too shabby for not pitching for very long. So as I was sitting in the hotel in Ft. Myers along with several other teammates listening to the draft online (there were 3 other brothers taken from our team alone: Justin Henry, Chris Carlson and LJ Gagnier) I was waiting for the teams I knew were interested in Kevan to announce their picks. Then in the fourteenth round, as I was brushing my teeth I heard “Yada yada yada…Detroit…Hess, Western Michigan.” And then I poked my head out still foaming with a full mouth of toothpaste, and yelled, was that my brother? Too my excitement, it was. Reunited once again on the same team since I played sixth grade basketball and Kev got play as a third grader, on account of our dad being the coach. I had been thinking for a little while what it would be like if he actually got drafted by Detroit, and it seemed so surreal that I had no idea what to think. I mean, how many people actually get the chance to do what we do, and then how many get to experience that with their brother? Imagine that stat line should it ever happen: W: A. Hess, SV: K. Hess (He’s a relief pitcher, so it fits the story for now). This is the kind of thing that families can only dream about, and we have found a way to make it happen. I know that my parents are ecstatic not only because of the circumstances but also so they don’t have to buy any other team gear (I don’t know this for a fact but if this happened to my kids I’d be pumped about that fact). The only downside is that when he reports to Lakeland I am going to be on the road in Port Charlotte, and by the time I return, he will most likely ship off to Oneonta, NY, the short season team. Our housemates got excited for a little bit at the thought of adding another roommate to lower the rent to somewhere around seventy dollars a month, but unfortunately it looks like that won’t happen. Oh well, there’s always spring training. For now I am going to enjoy watching, and helping him adjust to the pro game, not only as his co-worker, but as family.